That
she achieved both tasks set her is a mark of the
woman, as she successfully turned herself into a
celebrity, starting the ride on a wholly unsuitable
42lb Columbia (women's) bicycle, before reaching
Chicago and being offered a 21lb Sterling (men's)
bicycle, which she adorned with advertising obtained
in places she visited. Indeed the 'Londonderry'
moniker was one obtained through her sponsorship
by the Londonderry Lithia Spring Water Company.
It's
worth noting, as well, that both bikes used in the
challenge were fixed wheel, and the Sterling was
even brakeless!
Sadly
after the feat, and moving her family to New York,
branding herself a 'new woman', the fame started
to ebb, and Annie died in 1947 with her story passing
into history.
The
site, however, intends to resurrect, and keep alive,
that story - expanding on it with a fantastic article
on women and cycling in the 1890s. As bicycles developed
to be more suitable for women to ride they quite
literally became a vehicle of social change, bringing
about a mobility, and to an extent a necessity for
change of dress (Annie was as much a sensation for
undertaking her task in men's clothes as anything
else).
The
man behind the site, Peter Zheutlin, is actually
Annie's great grand-nephew, and has pursued the
story around the world to rediscover the disappeared
reputation. This has clearly been painstaking work,
and the website is just the tip of the story. Zheutlin
has, as mentioned, written a book on Annie, but
also does presentations on the tale, with delves
deeply into the social attitudes prevailing in the
1890s.
But
the last words here should be about Annie, and come
from a clipping from an 1895 periodical advertising
the Sterling bike she rode around the world: "Starting
before she had even mastered the rudiments of cycling,
she has, with a pluck and resolution unusual in
one of her sex, surmounted every obstacle."
.you
can visit the Annie Lononderry website here
